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Dress Code: New Business

With THE PIONEER, the surface specialist Hornschuch is presenting its own concept car for the first time

Five concept cars with Rinspeed already created

Pioneering new business concept

Innovative materials, sophisticated design

Frankfurt am Main, May 2017. With “Connecting the Future”, Techtextil is inviting people to the Frankfurt Trade Fair from May 9 – 12, 2017. In this innovative environment, the surface specialist will present smart materials for the contract area as well as for automobile and commercial vehicle interiors. The special highlight: With the Hornschuch Concept Car THE PIONEER the company will show its complete spectrum of design competence in interiors and exteriors to the interested trade professionals in hall 3.0 at booth G46.

First own Concept Car of Hornschuch

The Hornschuch Concept Car THE PIONEER is the first completely independent concept car of Hornschuch. The world's leading manufacturer and marketer of surfaces made of foils and artificial leather is represented with its materials in many production models and supplies OEMs worldwide. In the last ten years, the Hornschuch Design Team has designed and produced five different concept cars together with the Swiss automotive visionary Frank M. Rinderknecht and his company Rinspeed. After the extent of the items produced continued to increase in size – for the Rinspeed Budii they comprised the entire design and material concept of the interior surfaces – the Hornschuch Concept Car THE PIONEER is the consistent next step. The result was the creation of a platform with which Hornschuch is able to impressively show its full range of skills in the field of interior and exterior surfaces - especially in the automotive context in this case.

Three Preliminary Design Studies on the Cactus Basis

The Hornschuch Concept Car THE PIONEER builds on the Citroën C4 Cactus. This vehicle was chosen because in the interior in particular it is restrained - almost spartan - and so offered the Hornschuch Design Team a number of opportunities. Furthermore, the Cactus has large surfaces both inside and out on which the transformation can take effect in full. The vehicle possesses the character of a crossover, i.e. it has features of an SUV, a van and a station wagon. Of the three concepts that were developed in advance, the one being implemented is the New Business concept. Derived from this was the look and feel of the vehicle, as well as the material selection.

Dynamically Mirrored Exterior

The bodywork is decorated with a mirror film which is digitally printed with a diamond structure in night gray. The special aspect of this is a double progression structure: On the one hand the color in each diamond itself shows a progression, while on the other hand the diamonds increase in size from the front to the back. The air bumpers, which are so typical of the Cactus, on the flanks as well as the front and rear are retained, but are provided with the modern design of skai® Diamond in the color copper rose, a material which was developed specifically for the vehicle and which takes up and implements the diamond theme in a different way. The accent color on the outside is highly polished copper. This is used on the roof line and on the C pillars, mirrors, at the front in the area of the fog lights and as a logo on the wheel rims.

Innovative Material, Sophisticated Design in the Interior

In the interior of the Hornschuch Concept Car THE PIONEER, extensive surfaces from the entire Hornschuch Group are used. This begins with the instrument panel, which is covered at the top with a new TPO artificial leather material. This is adjoined by the skai® Diamond with its particularly high-quality feel. In combination with the color copper rose from the air bumpers it shapes the dashboard that is also decorated with striking seams. The same materiality and coloration is used on the door panels. This color concept has the effect of a horizon in the vehicle interior. As a result, the Hornschuch Concept Car THE PIONEER appears to be larger inside than it actually is.

Beneath the instrument panel, in the central part of the tower and on the floor, an expressive gray wood decor is used. In the first two applications it is digitally printed artificial leather, while on the floor the TPO material skai® Porto from the Hornschuch TranPOrter Collection is used. Here too, the surface stands out with its elegant, bright, high-quality natural wood look, while the material is also robust and easy to look after. In the floor area there are mats, which are also produced from TPO material, and there is also a wood decor. The noble black New Border edging strip with a copper-colored decorative seam rounds out the overall picture at the floor. Highlights in the interior are provided by the use of the color copper rose, for example for the central air outlets or the "fittings" of the loops which serve as door handles.

New Business Look & Feel

The business character of THE PIONEER is most clearly expressed on the seats. These are practically "dressed", meaning that they appear in the modern business style, wearing a "suit", "shirt" and "tie". The most striking feature is the tie. This runs over the headrest and the entire backrest of the front seats, but also decorates the two seats in the back. The tie consists of the specially developed material skai® Tex-Tie, which is enhanced by a fine textile texture. The color combination here is also copper rose. The "shirt", i.e. the white part of the head rest and back, is made of super-soft, vegan PU material with a delicate leather grain, with the color here being snow-white. The middle of the rear seat is also decorated by an oversized tie made of skai® Check-Brush, with a fine square cut in the color anthracite, which seems to “fall from the sky”. On the back seat, the snow-white runs into the gray shade of the seat surface. The "suit", which stretches over the backs of the front and rear seats, as well as the sides of the seat surface, consists of the same PU material with a fine textile pattern, but in the color night black.

Comfortable Seats with laif® VyP

Last but not least: The seat surfaces and lower side sections of the backs consist of the new breathable material laif® VyP, an innovative hybrid material made of vinyl and polyurethane, that is permeable to air and water vapor and makes sitting more comfortable than ever before. The material in elegant gray stands out with its elegant, value-adding diamond stitching. This is based on raised embossing, which perfectly mimics the stitching. The laif® VyP tie material was also used for the arm rests.

Breathtaking Roof Liner

It is worth looking up in the Hornschuch Concept Car THE PIONEER. Because the elaborately crafted roof liner is a sight for sore eyes. The oversized tie, which reaches optically as far as the back seat, is placed centrally. As on the back seat, the material skai® Check-Brush is used here, with a fine square cut in the color anthracite. The tie is flanked by laser-cut PU material, with the lasered-out cuts being small, fine diamonds. Behind the PU material, the high-gloss, self-adhesive d-c-fix® film in rosé gold has been placed, which shines through the small diamond cutouts. The effect is a veritable starry sky. This sky was created completely by the Hornschuch Group member kek-Kaschierungen.

Perfect for the Business Trip

In the trunk of the Concept Car there are two travel bags containing high-quality workmanship, which further strengthen the NEW BUSINESS concept. The material and color combination of the fashion accessories was created by analogy with the interior design concept. For example, some of the materials that had already been used in the interior, were also used for the bags. The artificial leather skai® Diamond in the color copper rose has been processed in combination with the digitally printed material skai® Porto with a wood effect, for example, and in combination with the geometric logo in black and white. The material skai® Putura Nappa in the color shade of snow white was used for the handles and belts